Would you believe I played a Rooster in a musical when I was 13 in front of 2000 people?

I know it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke right? But it’s true. As a kid I loved to act. It felt natural for me to get up on stage. But nothing stands out in my mind more than that Easter weekend in 1995.

When I read the script and realized how funny the Rooster was (yes it was a talking animals kind of musical), I had to fight for the part. I rehearsed for hours.

However, when it came to opening day, I had a problem. My voice broke. Yep, puberty swung his ugly stick at my throat. To make matters worse, I had the opening number and the first line was sung acapella. I was nervous, I hoped that it would turn out okay. The cue came, puberty was on stand by mode, the spotlight hit me in my fuzzy rooster outfit, and I belted out the words as best as I could.

My voice cracked.

Puberty sucks.

The show had to go on, so I finished the play with barely any repeat cracking, as it turned out I had lot of fun.